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4 Reasons Why Project Managers Need to Ditch Email Communication

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With all the available apps and tools that foster online communication, I’m baffled by why project managers still rely on email. It’s slow, a giant time waste, and difficult to filter through.

Many project managers are already giving up on email, but there are still managers who prefer to use email for handling their projects. The “why” behind that decision remains unknown to me.

If you are also using email for project management, here are four good reasons why you should regard it as the 21st-century’s AOL — completely outdated and clunky. By the end of this piece, you will not only understand why email is an ineffective project management tool, but also know about smarter tools that are available.

1. Email means more confusion and less information

You should not use email as a primary tool for conversing and discussing ideas because it’s easy to lose track of the conversation — in other words, email creates a lot of unnecessary confusion.

The longer the conversation thread gets, the harder it becomes to decipher the conversation. The whole thing is enough to drive anyone insane. “Stars” and “labels” haven’t solved this problem, nor have they fixed the issue issue of finding the right attachments in each reply.

2. Drafting emails is a time sink

Are you using an email system to assign work? If so, then you need to send emails every time you have to assign a task to someone, then wait for confirmation that the person has understood the requirements. Email-based project management requires that you do that for every task assigned.

Sounds like a lot of work, right?

This practice is fine when a limited number of people are working. But, for larger projects it’s a sheer waste of time and a recipe for miscommunication.

3. Email project management lacks a central storage system

Different departments have their own collections of files, data, and information. Emails are a poor method of arranging all that information in a cohesive way. The absence of a unified source of data can be the reason behind unnecessary delays and can ultimately be costly for your company.

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About the Author

Shikha Menwal

Shikha Menwal is a writer at ProofHub. Her academic credentials include a bachelor’s degree in computer sciences. From lifestyle, to technology, and management, etc. she has written about myriad of industries in her writing career during the last three years. In her free time she loves to watch comedy shows and read spiritual journalism.

Comments

Comment by Karen Wagner on November 8, 2016 at 7:11 pm

I’m looking for a ticketing/task system for incoming work. The priority is a project management tool where I can EASILY append or include email messages (history) to the task/ticket so that I can reference that information and don’t lose it. I am trying to organize my boss and this is the first step. Finding the right system, but she wants something where we can attach emails to the task/project.